And so Glacia was holding tight to the boy that knelt in front of her, separated by the cold metallic bars that were impossible to break free from. This was a prison, and it was far too late to find the key.

Around them, the world exploded. Flames lit so they surrounded Asher, in that moment he particularly looked like a fallen angel, all golden with the flame cast onto his beautiful features. There would never ever be a boy like him.

And that boy was going to die, along with her.

"You can't just give up your life like that!" She was begging him to leave her behind. She watched him thrash the bars fruitlessly, they would never cave. Still, he stayed there like a statue, still seething that she had left the hotel, but mostly mad panic that she was still trapped in a place that was about to blow.

He was exasperated, the black streaks of his hair painting around his face. "You've already gave up yours by leaving that place..." He pulled her as close as he could. "Oh, Glacia. Why didn't you stay--"

"I'm -- I'm sorry." She was taken aback by the fury in his eyes, the desperation in his mannerisms.

He laced his fingers with hers. "I won't leave you. Don't you get it, Glacia?" His voice rose. "I can't live if you die!"

There was a charged silence. Then, the beeping above woke Glacia to her senses again. "Y--yes, you can." She was surprised by the sturdiness in her voice. The mad determination to drive him away seemed to make her forget that this was going to be her last moment alive.

"Asher, we like each other, but it hasn't escalated yet. You can always find another girl that you would come to love --"

"No." He said in a voice so low that it almost didn't seem as if it was meant for her. "Don't say that --"

Glacia couldn't help but scream as something collapsed behind her. A debris had skyrocketed and knocked Asher over, so that he started bleeding from his head. He hugged his side, which was injured as well. But he never let go of her hand.

"Don't say that I don't l--"

His words were cut off by an explosion from below. The whole world seemed to be set aflame, Glacia choked from the smoke, her eyes stinging. She could barely see, only the stark contrast of the gold and beauty of the boy before her, who was trying to get the next sentence out.

"There won't be anyone else like you." He told her as she brought him closer, trying to press a cloth she had ripped out from her clothes to his wound. He shook his head as he brought it to her own nose and mouth, shielding her from the smoke.

They both coughed as the fire spread. Glacia more so than Asher, given that he was in his element. At that, Glacia realised something.

"What if we don't have to die?"

He looked feverish when he turned to her. "What do you mean?"

"We're the strongest Royalliers the Realm has ever seen, Ash. And you're in your element. Maybe you could --" She channelled her virtus to where their hands connected. Fingers entwined, palms pressed to each other's. They were holding on to each other as if the world was ending, which was pretty much true in this case.

"It doesn't work like that."

"No, it doesn't." She saw the cold of hers mix with his heat, the electricity that pulsed from it. There was a slight simmer and smoke that seemed to encase their hands from above, as she brought their hands up. "But we go against norms."

Something surged in Glacia. A desperation for both of them to live, she guessed. She brought their hands to the bars, watching it turn blue and red ever so slightly.

Asher barely seemed to realise. He used his other hand to cup her cheek, wanting to feel the planes of it to the last moment.

Their virtus couldn't break the bars apart. It was simply impossible. Glacia refused to accept that, even if Asher did. His lips parted as he stilled, holding her face. That made Glacia ask him again.

"I don't understand why you'd give up your life to accompany me to my death. You're not even trading it, you're just giving it away."

"I don't know why either. But I know I don't want to leave you behind."

She shivered. "Promise me that when the next bomb goes off, you'd run. You'll do what I want, right? I would want you to live. It would break my heart knowing that you died so pointlessly. You have a lot of potential to change the world out there."

"I do whatever you tell me to. If you tell me to leave --" He said, but in his heart he was still refusing to do as she said. He averted his eyes to the floor that was stained green. "I-- I won't even have that long to live anyway. You saw the Vision, remember?"

"I thought you didn't believe that." She said in between coughs. "I guess Visions can be changed after all. With me out of the picture, I think you'd live." She gave a genuine smile, she would want him to keep living.

He kissed her fingertips. He knew that the gist of the Vision would always be the same, that even if she left, someone else would kill him instead -- he knew that much from the Prophetic Regiis. But those weren't the words to tell her now. Instead, he would keep holding her like this.

She turned her face inwards into his palm. "Live for me. Live for the both of us. We're socius." She looked at where some shiny green liquid had flowed onto the ground, the Energiser was of a strange viscosity and it showed their reflections. His gaze followed.

"See? Our souls are intertwined." In the reflection, their bodies merged. The frenzied boy and girl kneeling across the floor, separated by thick bars, somehow could become as one in this image of them.

All the more I don't wish to leave you.

He watched the green liquid spill and cover the granite, and then the thought came into his head. He pulled Glacia in so she could bury her face in his neck, rapidly coughing. At this rate, she might pass out from the lack of oxygen in the air instead.

"Virtus becomes stronger in the mortal world, making us vulnerable to death. But what if we could become even stronger than that?" He cupped the spilling green liquid and brought it up to Glacia's lips. She barely opened her eyes to see it, but drank it anyway. She was on the verge of collapse, in no shape to protest, and she trusted him anyway.

With each sip, something came alive in her. Something seemed to bloom so she felt as if she was floating. She couldn't immediately tell the difference in strength, but it did make her able to cup the liquid at her side and hand it to Asher as well. He fed her first, before allowing her to tend to him.

But time was running out. Asher didn't manage to get enough before all walls crumbled. Something collapsed onto Glacia's feet and she screamed but the pain wasn't as bad as it should be. The ceiling came down onto Asher's left side. They fell onto the ground just as Glacia asked, "What's the plan?" The Energiser wouldn't necessarily help them survive such a major blow.

Asher shook his head. "I don't know. All I know is that I want to kiss you one last time --"

One last time, before she would push him away and make him leave her. Did someone drowning in water refuse a life buoy? She clung onto him so quickly just as he pressed his lips against hers. They were a tangle of heat and ice and golden sparks seemed to emerge where they touched. When they were together, they were always glorious like this.

She had meant to push him away, but it was too late. Something else exploded, but it wasn't the bomb.

It was them.

The last thing Glacia remembered was the world erupting at her feet, the building turning into cascades of ice, her virtus quelling the fires around them just as his virtus shielded them from the bomb. It was almost as if an invisible barrier surrected around them and they were invincible at once. A feat never seen before.

And then the darkness consumed her.

***

Song: Hurt People by Jack and Jack
I'm a better man 'cause of you
Thought we had a chance
That's true
But you have weapons
Didn't know you have weapons
Now I'm insecure and stressed out
When someone gets close, I shut down
Always second-guessing
Got so many questions

The next thing Glacia saw was Asher sitting across her. Upon her waking, he had relaxed, and then tensed all over again. His face was stony, expression unreadable.

"It seems as though you're a frequent visitor of this place." Jandra said pointedly. He had a cast around him, looking beaten up as Asher did. Glacia could only imagine how she looked like.

That much was true. She always seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. Glacia rolled onto her side, closing her eyes to take in the past few moments.

"Where am I?" She asked. This wasn't the infirmary she was sadly getting used to. This room was huge, messily arranged, with articles and things plastered all over the walls. The walls stretched on and on, decked in amber. The bed she lay in was particularly comfortable. There was something regal about this room, her own was stunning but this looked like it was made for a King.

Asher lifted himself slightly from the wall he was leaning against. He towered above the velvet couch, looking slightly flustered. "My room."

Glacia felt the tension in the air. Jandra was scowling at her, Asher was just a bit ticked off. Without a word, Jandra left the room and Glacia sat upright onto the bed.

"I told you to stay inside. Then again, it was my fault for thinking I could bring you out into the mortal world." He said hotly, raking a hand through his hair.

Glacia frowned. "I know it was wrong. But what now? Would you just keep me confined here forever?"

"Seeing that you can't listen, I will do just that. I know now that I can't leave you, huh?"

He said this with a frightening intensity. It was understandable that he was mad, Glacia nearly got herself killed. "Still, it's not like I would expect to be kidnapped."

"Well, don't put yourself in a situation that encourages that!" He threw his hands in the air. "Then again, I should have been more careful. I don't know how I didn't know that we were tailed. Usually, I'd know."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. Let's just be more careful from now on." She said, refusing to meet his gaze. Perhaps she shouldn't leave the Realm for a while now, but how much longer, knowing that even here isn't safe? Surely Dante and some of his team would have ingested the Energiser by now...

She swung her legs off the bed, watching her swinging feet. "The Vision..."

"Seriously? After all that, you're talking about the future and not the present?"

She bit her lip upon hearing his crude tone. He was using the distant one that he had abandoned when he told her how he felt for her. He seemed so far away from her again.

"It was so real." The thought made her shake. She would never forget the sight of his blood staining her hands, the blade protruding from his chest—

"You know what else would have been real? If you died yesterday. If you had really been stuck in that prison as the building came down." He left the couch and walked towards her stormily.

"And you nearly were willing to take that along with me!"

"How could I leave you like that? I already told you how I feel for you. And it was my responsibility to keep you safe! But of course, you came running out... I put protective wards around the room, you know? Little did I know that what mattered was not keeping people out, but keeping you in — You never listen, do you?"

She pursed her lips. In some ways, her situation was similar to his. He had been reckless enough to put himself in danger too — keeping her around despite knowing that she was the killer in his Vision.

If he didn't make her leave, she had to be the one to leave him instead.

Her grip on the sheets tightened, the crescent moons in her palms deepened. "Neither do you. I can't keep on with this, Ash. Every time we're together it seems that we get hurt."

Asher stopped in his tracks, face falling before he put the walls back up. He didn't say anything.

She swallowed a gulp. "Things never seem to work out well. Either one of us would get hurt, and in future it could even spell death. I don't see why we should be anywhere near each other."

Her voice was so frighteningly cold that it seemed realistic. Asher froze, as if her virtus would make him freeze.

"What are you saying, Glacia?"

"I should go back to the mortal world. Even if it's dangerous, it is here too. And now most of the Rogues should be dead, the real danger is inside here, so you won't have to pity me for being thrown into danger I didn't sign up for."

"Pity you? I never looked at you any less than me —"

Glacia knew that. It hurt her to continue. She could see his facade cracking, she would cause him harm that would be irreversible, she believed. The crescent moons she dug into her palms deepened, drawing blood. She felt the sharp pain from it, pushing her to continue.

And you'd be safe here. She thought. It was her sole impetus for everything. She didn't want his blood on her hands. That wouldn't happen if she would never get to be in the Dome in the first place.

Asher didn't quite seem to see the benefits from this as she did. Still, he didn't move from where he was. It never occurred to him that she would leave like this.

Neither did she think she would leave so fast. She was already charting out her path here, but she was sure of the decision she had just made. It was the only way to preserve their lives, and they would have to live without each other.

Are you breaking up with me? Those unutterable words hung in the air. Those seem too simplistic, reserved for mortals. Mortals didn't have problems like these, of this scale.

"Banish me from the palace, Asher. You're a Crown Prince, you can still do it." She clasped the white nightdress she had been changed into. If he didn't banish her, she may very well be enticed to come back to see him, and that may be an opportunity for the Dome thing to happen.

He moved closer. "No. You don't really want that, do you?"

"I do. I can't stand it anymore, Ash. It hurts me. When I close my eyes all I can see is your blood staining the grass. I don't want to be with someone that I have to be accountable for. I don't want to be with someone that has a clock ticking in his hands."

His breath hitched. Glacia was sure her heart had stopped too— those words were cruel. And worse — he seemed to actually believe those.

He nodded slowly, taking it in. "Right. It won't be fair for you to stay with someone who's dying."

Did he not understand? That 'dying' part wouldn't happen if she wasn't around him... She couldn't stand to speak more syllables coherently, so failed to clarify.

He touched her arm briefly, feather-light hovering as if he wasn't sure that he had her permission. "You want to go separate ways, yes?"

She couldn't say yes, so she nodded instead.

He closed his eyes. To be truthful, Glacia wanted nothing more but to take him and kiss him now. Heal him from the sorrow and confusion and heartbreak and turmoil in his head.

"I'll be honest and say I do not want you to go. But above all, I want you to be happy. And if leaving will make you happier, then you should. The Realm is a corrupted place anyway, and you've been in so much harm since you came. Growing up not used to all this brutality, I can't imagine how harsh it is for you. It's my fault I haven't been able to help with that."

You did. You helped me overcome it all. She wanted to touch his face, soothe the creases and tell him about how kind and sacrificial he had been, how he had helped her so much and gave her the strength to be in this horrid Realm.

"What's your plan? How will you get rid of the Energiser and the Red Ruby?" She couldn't help but ask.

"I — I don't know. I think we have to wage a war."

"If it is a war," She croaked, "Then you must survive it. You must continue leading the Realm well."

So this is goodbye. She could see that registering in his face. "And you must stop running into danger. Hopefully, without me, you won't be hunted anymore. I don't think so, since it's me they want. It's good this way. Without us together, you'll be safe. I don't want to drag you into this any longer."

He smiled sadly, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver chain. He placed it into her palm, enclosing her fingers around it.

"For you. I'm sorry I can't help you wear it. But I thought you should keep it at least, do whatever you want with it. Throw it if it reminds you of me and disgusts you. I don't have much use keeping it anyway, it was picked out specifically for you the day I trained with you."

The day he came to the Night Garden and saw her and Luke. That day, he was coming to give it to her... She broke at that fact.

It tore her apart to look at the necklace. It was perfect. She always liked simplicity, and he knew that very well. It fit her — not the most decadent, but Asher nor her wanted to flaunt anything. He only wanted what she wanted.

Tears were touching her eyelids. It was just as he said when he confessed his fondness for her, she too felt so many emotions when with him. And now? Heartbreak.

Looking at him was too much for her heart to handle. She wondered how it would feel to run her hand across his cheekbones, trickle down to his cheekbones, feel the marbled sides and muscled ridges of his strong but agile frame.

All she could do was nod and look down to avoid him seeing the heartbreak in her face. "I should go."

"Then you have to take care. Take the balisong, and whatever weapons you like. You cannot let your guard down, not for now. I'll arrange you a house in wherever you like, just name it. You can leave tomorrow." His voice cracked as he spoke. "You have to be safe, only that way will I let you go."

The emotions made her freeze up the bed frame. Perhaps that was why there was a fireplace, she presumed it was lit up thanks to Asher's own virtus.

"Stay here. Until tomorrow. It's safer in the Royal Quarters. I'll leave instead." He told her.

Asher let go of her hand.

He opened his mouth then closed it on second thought, turned and left. He had plastered on the mask once again, and she worried what she had done to him. Perhaps she broke him again, and he was more convinced than ever that feeling emotions and loving people only made you hurt.

She watched his stony figure fade away, leaving her in the spaciousness of his bedroom. It was too much for her to handle. The moons in her palms weren't enough. She needed something else to distract her from the pain exploding inside her. Even physical pain would be better, nothing else could compare to this.

She stalked over to the fireplace. With delirious abandonment, she grabbed the burning coal with her bare hands.

Song: Maybe Next May by Secrets
I always try so hard to be her right
And all she does is fight the reasons why
The future always seems so bright
I don't know why she fears the light
You always try to hide and cover up the hurt inside
But I see through your lies
You know I'm what you need and I need you to breathe
So won't you take

This heart is yours
So take it as you please
But if you walk away
Remember I need that heart to breathe